the toucan kid wrote:We can't afford to give them a game we should be winning on our ice and win this series. Not going to say we must come back in the third, but we sure as shit could use it.

A great 3rd period comeback.. kudos to Hank , Bieksa and a great game by the 3rd line .. Luongo assist on Sharks goal not so good.. Sharks put Boyle and top D against kesler line.. so Sedins came through.. good game

Canucks looked nervous and the Sharks looked confident at first. I really didn't feel good about the game until the 3rd period. I found the Canucks were a different team in the 3rd. Looks like the Sedins are healthy and flying out there. Hopefully they can eat up the slower Sharks D throughout the series. This was an entertaining game and hopefully the whole series will be like that.

To me, this was the closest that the Canucks looked like their regular season performance since the first two games of the Chicago series.

Now, Nashville's style of play had a lot to do with that, and it was good to see them able to win more than one type of game, but for entertainment value, nobody's going to be Youtubing highlights from that series in ten years for nostalgic value. (Or whatever has replaced Youtube by then).

I maintained (privately, of course) through the second round that San Jose would be the preferable opponent, and I think it's because the Canucks can play the same style against them that they did when they were at their best during the regular season. High- (and high-quality) possession, offensive pressure, and scoring off the rush when necessary.

Incidentally, did the Canucks get any goals with passes to the trailer on a rush against Nashville? Bieksa's goal is the type that they scored barrels of all season long.

Anyway, great game overall - the score was closer than the play suggested (though not by much) - looking forward to sitting in Section 121 for Game 2!

Agreed. Henrik still didn't look 100%, but it would appear the rest did him well. Probably a good thing to have the extra day before Game 2 (at least from his standpoint - overall, it probably benefits SJ).

BingoTough wrote:The last time the Canucks were here the Internet didn't exist. Not for anybody who wasn't an uber dork anyways.

Thank you, thank you, I take that as a compliment. On the internet since about '88. Before that, uucp, and before that, smoke signals.

And us uber dorks think that was a pretty dominating effort in the third. Had San Jose running around in circles like they were for long stretches in game 7 against Detroit. The effort resulted in some goals for us.

And maybe it is just the way it is going to go for the whole playoffs, but why is it when someone hands the opponents a goal the Sedins are always on the ice and end up with a '-' due to no fault of their own ? And Louie's comments after the game were a bit crazy. Instead of just saying "I screwed up" he goes on to arguing about what a great stick handler he is ? He should have just said "I should have dumped it in the corner rather than passing it up the ice (to Thornton)".

It will be a long series. On paper, the sharks offence is deeper. Our third line was dominant tonight, but the Sharks 3rd line is very very good. Hansen is really, to me, showing why he is the unsung hero on this team. That kid NEVER takes a shift off. And at the trade deadline I was pretty unexcited about Lapierre and Higgins, not that I thought we gave up too much but I thought we didn't need them. They are both big parts of this team.

But anyway, IF we win this series it will be because of our defence and the two-way play of our forwards. And Luongo not handling the puck.

About 10 minutes before 'that' goal, I was thinking about how Luongo has vastly improved with his puck handling. He was playing the better shot and not panicking. But one bad goal? I'm not going to bitch.